One More Reason
by SoulFire Nova
Summary: Army staff sergeant Jason Mitchell is left alone in a wasteland empty of everything but broken buildings and the infected. Full summary inside, originally planned as a rewrite of another story I started a few years ago but became something else. Rating may go up as the story progresses. Friendship fic, any possible pairings are yet to be determined, working title.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: Alrighty everybody, take two I guess? I tried this once before but I wasn't happy at all with the way it was turning out. It felt too cliche and just all around bleh, so, here we go with another, hopefully better, rendition. It's also completely different, not even the Hunter character I'm using is the same, only that it's still L4D, still a hunter, and will eventually involve survivors from the games. With that all out of the way, on to the disclaimer: I do not own Left 4 Dead. I only own my characters.  
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 _Army staff sergeant Jason Mitchell is left alone in a wasteland empty of everything but broken buildings and the infected. Struggling to cope with the loss of his team and the guilt he feels over his own continued survival, he fights a daily battle to remind himself why he keeps going. Just as he decides he has nothing left to lose he meets someone who will change his mind and give him more to live for than he thought he would ever have again..._

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 _Jason Mitchell's PoV_

I've been alone in this mess now for over a week. We started out with me and five of the other guys getting cut off from the rest of our unit and then being left behind when the rest of the army pulled out. After that things went from bad to worse, we had lost one man almost immediately and since then the infected had been picking us off one by one. And now six months later I was stranded, alone, in this city, with nothing but the infected to keep me company.

I jolted awake, thinking for a split second that I heard my best friend trying to wake me, then shook my head and settled back against the wall. I swear I'm losing my mind. Baxter and I had been the only ones left for the past month, but then he'd been bitten and only a few hours later he turned and started trying to rip me to pieces. I had to shoot him. I could still remember his face, his eyes, swimming with agony even as he slashed at me with hands twisted into vicious talons. He hadn't had a clue what was happening. Killing him took everything I had at the time, and after it was over I'd just sat there holding him. And now here I was dreaming that he was here talking to me, barely a week after he was gone. Maybe it's just my head trying to cope, I don't know.

I looked at my watch then started gathering together what few food items were left in the safehouse and started packing it all into my rucksack. This place was starting to feel claustrophobic, even after only about four hours of sleep, five hours total of being here. Once I had everything of even remote value gathered together and packed, I quietly unbarred the safehouse door and slipped out into the mostly empty streets. It's strange to think, but by now even the infected have been falling in numbers and most of them have either died off or just disappeared. I don't really know why. I only know that they seem to be disappearing. That hadn't saved Baxter though.

I spent the whole day wandering through the city, scavenging as I went. I picked up every can of food that still seemed like it would be usable, and there weren't many. Still, when you spend all day picking up canned goods, your bag will start to get heavy. By the time I found the next safehouse even I was feeling the strain of carrying this much on my own. Still, I knew I would need it if I planned to survive long enough to make it to… wherever I was trying to go. Now I thought about it I didn't know the answer to that anymore. Maybe I didn't have anywhere to go at all…

I entered the safehouse and barred the door, then I began working out dinner and setting up for what little sleep I might be able to get. Beans. Before the army I hated beans. Once I joined I learned that there were far worse things that are considered food, and that some people don't know how to cook. Not that I had any room to talk, my cooking usually amounts to throwing whatever I plan to eat into a dish then putting it in the microwave and running it anywhere from five to ten minutes until it's hot. Still, it's better than eating a cold meal, especially now.

I was exhausted, barely able to make it through my meal. I still tried not to fall asleep even though I've been awake for what seems like days. Eventually I got up to pace around the room, then I picked up my rifle and broke it down to clean it. Halfway through I closed my eyes for a few seconds to try and ease the burn from lack of sleep.

 _"Hey, Mitch, are you going to find a bed anytime soon?"_

 _I looked up to see Baxter, Torres, and Ramsey standing around with silly grins on their faces. "Wha…What the hell?!" I rubbed my eyes frantically, but they were still there._

 _"Man Sarge, you look like you just saw a ghost," snorted Ramsey._

 _I looked around. Yes, still in the same safehouse as before, there were the remains of dinner scattered around the Bunsen burner in the middle of the floor. That had been the only thing left in the place that would actually work. There were four bowls instead of the one I thought had been there. The last month and a half must have been all a dream._

 _"I… I must have dozed off," I didn't want to admit I was shaken, but we'd all been working together for so long that they knew._

 _"Come on, Mitch, spill it already," Torres said, then he grinned, "Be honest: was it your ex?"_

 _"Shut up," I ordered, but I was too relieved to really be mad at him._

 _"Dude, Mitchell's ex is something nobody should joke about, he's lucky she only took the house and the car," Baxter reminded them, then he looked at me, "You look like you had a real scare though man, are you sure you're ok?"_

 _"I'm fine," I sighed, "It's just… Just this damn outbreak, getting left behind and the army not coming back for us. I guess I just thought…"_

 _I trailed off as I raised my eyes to look around at them. They were all staring at me with strange, not quite there expressions on their faces._

 _"Uh… Guys? What's going on?" I asked._

 _"What are you talking about?" Ramsey asked._

 _"Nothing's going…" Torres trailed off to a low moan. Then the other two joined in._

 _"Oh no… No, no, no…"_

 _They just tilted their heads and shambled toward me, their hands reaching, their eyes empty pools of colored glass. Except for Baxter. His eyes were the same pain filled orbs I'd looked into not more than a week before. Looked into as I shot him dead._

 _"I'm sorry!"_

 _I closed my eyes…_

And opened them to find myself sitting in an empty safehouse, my rifle in pieces across my lap and scattered on the floor. I put my hands to my face and started to sob. They were gone. All three of them. I was so… Completely… Alone…

I woke again during the coldest, darkest part of the morning on my side with my knees held tightly to my chest. I was stiff, but my nerves were raw after all the nightmares. My friends' ghosts haunted me, every time I closed my eyes there they were, sometimes taunting me, sometimes accusing me, sometimes asking why them and not me. Worse still were the times when they said nothing at all and just stood there and stared before slowly coming for me and refusing to go down no matter how many shots I pumped into them. The guilt was killing me. If there had ever been anything fair about this world I would have been the one to die, not the others. Baxter had a wife and two little kids, Torres was going to go back to college, Ramsey had only just finished high school when he joined the army… The only thing I had to go home to was an empty, rundown apartment and most of my pay collected in alimony to go to an ex wife who never really cared. Why was I the one to survive and not them? They were the ones who should have made it.

I looked down to see my hand clasping my sidearm. I couldn't remember drawing it, but as I stared at it I thought how simple it would be to just put the barrel in my mouth and squeeze. There would be no more pain, no more remembering, and most of all no more guilt. I would be where I belonged, dead alongside them. But killing myself wouldn't bring them back. I knew that of course. I looked at my sidearm again.

 _"There was nothing we could do, Mitch. Besides, somebody has to live long enough to bring their tags to their families."_

Baxter said that when we first lost Forbes, and he kept saying that right on up until he and I were the only ones left. By then we had been picking up the tags from our dead fellow soldiers so long that it was second nature. Now, I had everyone's tags. Alright. I would live long enough to bring what little of him back to his family that I could. Beyond that, I did not know. I still felt sure that somehow it was all my fault, but I couldn't change what happened. I would have to pay that piper after my task was done.

I took a deep breath, gathered the parts of my rifle back together, laid them out neatly and finished cleaning it, then carefully put it back together. I cleaned out my dishes as best I could, then put both them and the burner into my rucksack, because you never know when you'll ever find another working appliance these days. I made a final round of the safehouse, looking to see if there was anything else I might need that I could carry. There wasn't, or at least if there was it was too dark for me to find it. I was saving my flashlight in case there was a time when I needed it more.

That was another thing I should really look for. Batteries. If I remembered right there should be a gas station just up the street. If I was lucky there might still be batteries and possibly a few other necessities there s well. I hadn't had a shave or a hair cut since this whole mess started, so maybe a razor or three would be a good idea. Still couldn't leave the safe house until the sun came up. I promised…

I dozed again several times, but every time I woke with the same dream, the same nightmare. The same feeling that I should be dead. No matter what I tried I couldn't stop thinking about them. I had to convince myself yet again that dying wouldn't solve my problems. I just wanted this nightmare to end… I waited another three hours probably before it finally started getting light outside, but once it did I couldn't stay in the room any longer. I had to get out. I opened the door and left, not even caring if it slammed as it closed. It didn't anyway so it didn't matter.

I just kept on going in the direction the other guys and I had started off in, although I wasn't sure at this point if our plan had been really possible or just wishful thinking. The original plan had been to make our own way to the next CEDA e-vac center close to a hundred miles away and hopefully reconnect with the rest of the army there. From the e-vac the plan was to continue rescuing survivors until everyone who could be saved was out of the quarantine zone, then anyone who could would meet up with their families and be relocated. Now that plan was looking less and less likely to happen.

I kept on for the rest of the day and well into the night, nearly ready to fall flat on the side of the road before I found the next safehouse. By then I was nearly a zombie myself, ready to just collapse on the edge of the street. I barely managed to bar the door before I collapsed in front of it with my back resting against it. I didn't remember doing it but I must have passed out for a while at that point, because the nightmares returned, worse than ever. I wondered again if it would really be such a bad thing if I ended it, then again decided that I couldn't do that. Baxter's family needed to know what happened so they would be able to attempt to move on. Why, out of everyone, did I have to be the only one who was immune..?

I spent another sleepless night in a safehouse I didn't feel I deserved, trapped somewhere between wanting to end my life and my need to do one last good thing before I died. When I left the safehouse I wandered in a haze until suddenly the realization hit me that if I spent just one more night alone I probably wouldn't make it through. I collapsed hard against a wall and stood there for probably a good ten minutes while that knowledge sank in. I didn't know how much longer I would be able resist the urge to put my gun to my head and pull the trigger, how much longer I would be able to keep my friend's family first in my mind. I was losing my grip, I realized.

I shoved myself off the wall and lurched forward, deciding to just keep walking, reasoning that I would figure out what to do if or when I actually reached the next safehouse. I'm sure if anyone had been around to see me they would have thought I was one of the infected myself. I couldn't see straight, couldn't walk a straight line, I could barely even stay on my feet. I have no idea how I made it to the next safehouse, or even when. I didn't even bother to bar the door, I just walked in and let myself fall on the floor. I vaguely managed to tell myself that I really should eat, but I didn't want to move. Still, I forced myself to open a can of something, I wasn't sure what, heated it up on the burner, and ate the meal straight from the can, then passed out almost immediately.

I had been beyond exhausted last night, so tired that, if I did have the nightmares again I couldn't remember them. I was slightly alarmed to see the safehouse door had been left wide open, and I looked around and through the two or three rooms to make sure there were no zombies inside. I shuddered when I discovered that there were a few infected, all dead from slash wounds made all in sets of four. What in the world was in here with me last night? And why hadn't it attacked? Or maybe it had and I just didn't know it… I quickly checked myself over, but I only confirmed what I already knew, that the lack of physical pain other than fatigue meant that I didn't have a scratch on me. So what exactly did happen last night? I didn't know if I wanted to know or if I would rather it stayed a mystery. I repacked my burner and spoon after cleaning it, then picked up a map of the town before walking out the door and heading down the street again. At least I wasn't ready to fall over in the street at the moment…

I pulled out the map and inspected it just to make sure of where I was headed, then re-folded it and slid it back into my pocket. I couldn't be sure, but from the way the city seemed to be laid out the next marked safehouse that I had a reasonable chance of reaching was a little over two miles away in a straight line. With all the detours I would have to take due to traffic and debris it was closer to three or four miles away. And that still didn't take possible attack by infected monstrosity into account. Depending on the type of infected I could be forced even farther out of my way.

For the first mile or so nothing happened and I eventually started keeping step just to relieve some of the monotony of the walk. That is, I distracted myself until I heard a soft rustling noise. I immediately stopped moving and looked around for anything that might have made the sound, but didn't find anything. A few steps later I heard it again, but again I couldn't find anything. I heard a can drop to the ground on the street a little ways away, a gust of wind whistled down my own street and through the cars carrying leaves and debris with it, then nothing. I heard another sound, what sounded like the footfalls of a dog trotting across the pavement, but I still couldn't find anything as I looked around.

Remembering that some of the infected could hunt you better if you were in the middle of an open street I worked my way to the sidewalk and continued on, my pace a bit slower and not nearly so distracted as it had been before. Thankfully everything on my side of the street was boarded up. There was no way for a hunter to jump me from inside of the buildings anyway at the moment. I was more concerned at this moment that I would accidentally stumble across a tank or charger, or startle a witch. When the rest of my team had still been around we'd at least had a fighting chance, but by myself I was dead if I ran into anything more powerful than your average infected. Still, even those would be enough to put me down if they chose to come at me in a large enough group.

I heard another rustling sound, more cans hit the street, and I still couldn't find the source. I heard the moaning of several common infected, and pulled my combat knife. It wasn't near long enough to be a decent defense against these things, but it was all I had on me at the moment that didn't make any noise. It was still a long time before I came across anything even remotely resembling a threat, and at first it was just a few commons, which I killed as quickly and quietly as I could. I looked at the surrounding buildings, hoping I could find a way to climb over some of the obstacles in my path, but very nearly all the fire escapes had been raised and locked in place far above ground level. I had no way to get any of them down where I could climb them.

I was still tired, what little sleep I managed to get last night hadn't been enough to completely cure my fatigue and despite having only been moving around for an hour and a half I was starting to wear down. I was starting to weave on my feet, another result of how tired I was, but I knew that if I wanted to live through this trip I couldn't stop for anything. I had to make it to the safehouse at least. Still, I had been a long time without proper rest and I was starting to feel it. Then I looked up and groaned.

The street I had to walk down was littered with both wrecked and parked cars, and the traffic jam stretched for close to four city blocks. There was no way around either, I either took this street or I didn't get to where I needed to be. So, I simply shifted my rucksack to a better position and continued on, hoping I would make it before anything too drastic happened. I walked down the street as far as I could go without touching anything, then picked my way through a destroyed convenience store to get around a car that was sitting across the sidewalk. I almost wanted to go back, but I was far enough now that it would be more trouble than it was worth. Plus, this was the only street that would get me directly to the overpass and then from there the overpass would lead more or less straight to the safehouse.

I heard skittering feet again, still sounding like a dog's nails clicking across the pavement, but I still didn't see anything when I looked around trying to find the thing. There were more sounds of rustling, more nail clicking, then it either stopped or moved away again. I hated this. Being on edge, walking all day every day, never sleeping more than two or three hours maximum at night, all this was taking a toll. I tripped over something, looked down briefly to see a body, and before thinking I reached out my hand to catch myself and avoid falling. I touched a parked car…

The alarm started blaring and I had no way to shut it off. The next instant there was a howl that seemed like it was coming from all over the city as infected were drawn in from every direction. I ran for it, not even bothering to fight except for what was right in front of me. I blew heads off with my assault rifle, put my blade through eye sockets, kicked down whatever didn't fall fast enough for my liking and kept on going. I heard a noise, what sounded like a dog barking, then there was a loud bellow and the ground started to shake. Shit. Either a charger or a tank, both were bad, both would kill me, ether they'd actively chase me down and crush me purposefully or the chaos from the thing tearing through the street would get me crushed under a car.

Then it burst through the wall of the building I was standing beside. Charger. That was actually a little worse than a tank. A tank would just throw things at you, or try and punch you. A charger on the other hand would grab you and throw you, then follow up with a lunging charge, grab you again and pound you into the ground until you were dead. I scrambled backward, firing the last of my clip into the thing as I tried to put some distance between myself and the giant infected. The clip emptied and I fumbled before finally managing to feed in another and resumed firing. I just had time to realize I'd made a terrible mistake, then it had me in its hand and started pounding me into the pavement. I felt something snap and I knew I had at least one broken rib, and I frantically started stabbing the monster's hand trying to get it to let go. It let go alright. The next thing I knew I was airborne, then I landed hard on top of yet another car, although mercifully this one didn't have an active alarm. I vaguely heard a dog barking again, the charger roared, then I looked and saw something fly at the thing before I completely blacked out.

I woke… I wasn't sure how much later it was, but the sun was very low in the sky and it was starting to get cold. I closed my eyes again. Everything hurt and I didn't want to move. I had at least one broken rib that I knew of, plus countless other lacerations and bruises, all of which I could feel at the moment. My plan to stay put was shattered however when I felt something gently but firmly nudging me, trying to get me to move. I opened my eyes again to find a giant fuzzy snout with a big black nose coming in for a sniff of my face. The tongue came out and licked my nose and I groaned. The dog whined a little and licked me again and I started to roll over, but the pain in my ribs nearly knocked me out again.

The dog kept whining but gradually I became aware of a whirring, almost chirping noise that was also being made somewhere near me and I felt the nudge again. I blinked my eyes and slowly shook my head trying to clear it, but when I finally looked around I nearly jumped out of my skin. My ribs protested the movements and I yelped, unable to hold in the sound. Eventually I forced my eyes open again, and I found the creature still there. It was an infected, but it was off. Definitely something I had never seen before. Distinctly female yet mutated beyond anything other than the spitter and the boomer, it looked like a mixture between a human and a cat. It was… terrifying, to say the least. On top of that I could barely move, there was no way I could get away from the thing.

The whirring sound came again and I realized this strange infected was what made that noise. It seemed more curious than anything though, but then both the dog and the infected came alert, both staring off down the street, back in the direction I'd come from. There was a sound of metal grinding on metal, and the soft whirring the infected had been making turned into a louder trill as it started to poke at me. I didn't want anything to do with any of this and with an effort I heaved myself up onto my elbows and then rolled off the car only to fall flat on the road. The dog whined at me and shoved its nose up against my neck, and I dragged myself to my hands and knees. The infected kept making the whirring noise and in seconds it had hopped to the ground beside me.

"Get the fuck away from me!" I snarled, and I took a swipe at it with the knife still held in my hand.

It only backed off far enough to get out of reach of my blade, and it kept making that infuriating noise. Another sound of metal screeching against metal came from down the street and the infected stepped up the game, whirring and chirping as well as bouncing around nervously. More sounds from down the street, an angry roar followed by what sounded like a stampede coming our way. I struggled to my feet and started making my way along the street, stumbling the entire time. The dog stayed close to me, whining and nudging me when I started to slow down, letting me lean against it as I walked.

I was running out of strength to keep going though. Everything hurt, my head felt like it was ready to fall off and go rolling away down the street, and I was having a hard time staying on my feet. The strange infected still stuck around, whirring and chirping the whole time. I tried several times to get it to go away, but it persisted in coming back. I didn't have a choice but to let it follow me. There was another angry bellow from down the street and I turned around to see a car flying in my direction, having been picked up and thrown by something very large. The infected let out a startled yip and urged the dog and me to move faster. There was no way I could. I started to fall and I couldn't stop it, ending up sprawled flat on the concrete pinned underneath my rucksack. The infected started prodding me again and I brandished my knife at it, not able to do much else. The bag was just too heavy and I was too tired to move it.

The tank rampaged closer and both the dog and the infected had enough. The dog started growling, a heavy, rumbling sound that vibrated it and the air around it, while the infected flattened itself and emitted a sharp hiss. The next thing I knew both of them had gone after the tank, the infected launching itself through the air with an earsplitting shriek while the dog started barking and barreled toward the massive infected.

I finally managed to struggle out from under my bag and then began looking for my rifle, but eventually I had to give up. It must have been flung away from me when I was thrown by the charger earlier. I still had my sidearm though. I drew it and started shooting, hoping that I could do enough damage to make the tank fall before it crushed the entire street in its path, but I soon had to shift my focus from the tank to the infected swarming me. The tank roared and threw another car which took out a good portion of the infected staggering towards me, then I took out the rest with my sidearm. I turned back around as I heard the tank roar, then I saw the infected leap into its face with claws flying, only to leap away as blood spurted from the remnants of the tank's eyes, nose, and parts of its neck. It went after the little infected and the dog ran into its path, barking and snarling. The tank started wildly throwing punches and sending cars flying, tearing up the street in its fury before the dog latched onto one of its legs to bring it to the ground, then when it fell the infected girl leapt at it again and finished it off.

I went back for my bag and started to pick it up but attempting to do so put strain on my shoulders and made it feel like my ribs would explode out my side. I nearly fell over again. I heard the tell-tale whirring sound and looked up to see the infected sitting on the street directly on the other side of my pack staring at me. I scooted backwards, and at my sudden movement the infected bounced straight up then skittered away from me. I drew my sidearm and pointed it at the infected, and the thing's eyes widened for a split second before it took off and disappeared. I shook my head and holstered my weapon, then tried to lift the pack again. Once again I had to put it down, I just wasn't able to move it with all the supplies it was loaded up with. I looked around for a cart or a wagon, something with wheels that I might drag it into in order to tow it the rest of the way to the safehouse, but there didn't seem to be any such thing. I briefly thought I might convince the dog to drag it for me, but it seemed to have disappeared right along with the weird infected that I'd chased off. There was nothing for it, I would have to drag it on my own as best I could.

I managed to get it to the overpass by way of alternately dragging and half carrying it before I finally just had to put it down again completely. It was dark and I could hear things moving around that I couldn't see. I didn't want the noise from the pack to alert anything, common, witch, it didn't matter. I could not handle another fight in the state I was in. I pulled the things out that I needed most, gun cleaning kit, ammunition, Bunsen burner, a few cans of food, plus the container full of the dog tags I had collected from my team, then I put everything in whichever pockets they would fit in and headed up over the overpass.

I was tired again, so tired that I was almost ready to fall over and just lie there until either morning came or some infected found and killed me. Still, I forced myself to keep going and eventually I started hearing what sounded like a dog panting and nails clicking as it moved across the pavement, accompanied by that whirring noise that I was sure would forever haunt my nightmares after this. Why in hell did that thing have to follow me? Couldn't it find someone else to torment? Maybe it could irritate a witch and they'd either both die or one would kill the other. I could hear it making noises, and hear the dog moving around and panting, but the moon was hidden behind thick clouds and it was much too dark to see. I would have been fine with just having the dog, but apparently the two went together somehow, although it baffled me that the two hadn't fought.

I couldn't figure out why the infected hadn't tried to eat the dog yet, especially since I knew the creatures weren't picky about what they ate. After the first few residential areas my team and I always avoided them, because anything could be infected, and every type of body you could imagine was strewn around the streets. Dogs, cats, random other pets, even a horse at one point. Ramsey flat refused to go anywhere near it, and it was only later that I found out his parents owned a ranch. I wished I'd never known that…

Suddenly I realized that both the dog and the infected, neither of which I could see, had gone completely silent some moments before. I stopped dead in my tracks and heard the unmistakable sound of a witch sobbing. I couldn't tell where it was coming from at first, but after a few more steps I could just make out the glow of its eyes just on the other side of a wrecked car. I didn't want to move, but I didn't have a choice. I kept going, being as quiet and nonthreatening as I could but it still heard me and started to growl, and I froze. I stayed that way for what seemed like hours but it eventually went back to crying again and I took another step. More growls, and I froze again while the witch looked up and around trying to find the sound my boots had made. If I wanted to get past it I would have to do it one step at a time until I was out of its earshot.

I waited. I waited long enough for the temperature to drop some more and my feet started to go numb from the cold. When the witch finally started crying again I barely managed to stop my sigh of relief. I was able to take three more steps before she noticed and started growling again, and again I stopped immediately, hardly daring to breathe as the infected growled and looked around for the source of the sounds I was making. I could see the witch's eyes moving and changing position, and it took me a few moments to figure out that she was moving toward me. I nearly panicked, wondering if she'd figured out where I was and was coming to investigate. If she did then this was going to be the shortest fight of my life, all I had were my combat knife and my sidearm and the witch would have me in pieces on the pavement before I put more than two or three rounds into her.

A high pitched trilling sound came from somewhere across the street from me and the witch's growls caught in the back of its throat before it turned around and headed away from me. I took the opportunity and inched away from where the witch had been sitting crying, backing away down the other side of the overpass until I felt the street leveling out again then I turned and started walking forward. At this point I was only about three blocks away from the safehouse. I was on edge for the rest of the walk, and it only got worse as I started hearing clicking nails and a chirping noise that I knew only too well.

When I got to the safehouse I immediately slammed the door and barred it with both the bar on the door and a crowbar I found laying on the floor. Before allowing myself to calm down and pass out like my head and ribs were screaming at me to do though I went through the whole safehouse with my sidearm drawn and flashlight out, taking out the few common infected that were in the place. At least there was no witch. Once that was done I plugged in my burner, opened a can of beef stew and set it on to heat, then after eating I unplugged the burner and passed out.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: Another chapter, here we go. I really hope this isn't too much of a pain to read, I wanted to express that, while she's not particularly aggressive most of the time she is still not the most mentally stable thing around. My friend who I've been having read my chapters for me says it's fine though, so maybe? Anyway, feedback is nice, it helps me do better which gets you guys better stuff to read when I post. Obligatory disclaimer: I do not own Left 4 Dead, only my original characters.**

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 _Hunter's PoV_

Wake up, turn around, look out the greasy window, make sure nothing's following me even as I follow something—no, someone—myself. All living things, infected and not infected, they all will kill me or be killed by me, they all fall into one of two groups, food or not food. This one, he is not food, but the others like me don't think, too tired, too hungry, too lost to know. Silly hungry things, can't you see? He's just like you, so let him go. But they never do and so I choose to follow. I don't know why, I just do.

 _Silly, silly, he is not food, you will not kill him so he will kill you._

But I find that I don't care. I memorized him days ago, I can follow him without needing to see him and he has never once seen me. Too tired, stumbling over himself like that, almost like the hungry ones that fumble about and cry for his blood when he gets too close. He kills them when they attack, but unlike others like him I have seen he does nothing more than defend himself, sometimes he takes longer than I find comfortable. I wonder, is he sick like them and just hasn't given up his fight yet?

A soft whine pulls me from my thoughts, this other, giant, warm one. He is different from the one I watch, four legs instead of two and all covered in long, soft fur. He is hungry again, and I have nothing to give him. I watch the—human?—yes, human, longer. Maybe he will feed my furry one. But how will I convince him that we want to be friends without my words? The furry one snorts and bats me with his paws and I nuzzle closer to him. We will follow the human longer and maybe we'll find a way.

He's a ways ahead of me, I'll have to run, but he's so tired, he can't go too fast. I stretch, my furry one snuffles at my neck and I run my hand through his mane, then I get up and start forward. First for food, maybe I will find something. A round thing, flat on both ends is what I find first, I remember my human picking them up and putting them in his bag. It must be useful, but I don't know why. Food? I don't know, maybe my human does. A whine, and I look at my furry one to see him drooling. I move a little and his eyes follow the round thing in my hand. Food, it must be, but I can't open it. My human must open them though because he keeps finding new ones, but he never puts them down. Maybe he will open it. I hope so. I'm hungry too. I put the round thing down and my furry one huffs. Hungry, more than me I think. Must get human to open up a round thing.

We keep going, finding more of the food containers at various points, some open and empty ones which my friend licks clean. I just keep going while my furry one snuffles around and digs through things on the street. I can hear my human, his feet are dragging and his steps are heavy. Why is he so tired? I don't understand. If he does not sleep he will fall in the street, if he falls in the street and I'm not there he might die. For some reason that bothers me— _Why do you care?_ —I don't know why. But I know that I don't want to see him die. I move faster, have to keep up, can't leave him alone, can't let the hungry ones have him. There are many hungry ones, some are angry, some are not, but most don't think, they're just too hungry.

 _Food, stop thinking about the food, you'll go crazy if you don't._

Can't help it, I'm too hungry—then I smell something and move in that direction. The building is mostly empty, but the shelves still have some things on them, move farther back, find a box. It's still cold inside, so very, very cold, but there are things inside it and when I open the box my furry one comes running up to me, he's trailing drool all over. Food, it must be. At least it doesn't smell like it's going bad like the things still on the shelves. I've eaten rotten things before, they always make me sick.

 _Sicker than you are already._

Hush, you! I'm fine. I haven't eaten a human yet, so I'm not sick, not like the hungry, miserable, moaning ones that crawl and grab, and bite anything in reach. You can't eat metal or bricks or wood you silly things. I pull a thing out of the box and rip it open, and cold blood oozes out of it and over my hands. Well, here you go, furry one, you need it more than I do right now, I will find another. I drop it on the floor and he attacks it, and I go back into the box. There must be more, more to eat, maybe I won't have to look too hard to eat.

It doesn't take long, there is apparently a lot in here that hasn't turned green and smelly. I don't eat much, eat too much and I'll get sick, and be more hungry later. That won't help me, and it won't help my human, if I'm too hungry I can't follow. I realize he's far ahead, oh shit— _ha ha, shit, what a funny word_ —I leave the building and run down the street, must catch up. My furry one was satisfied a while ago, so that's alright, he won't suffer too much now.

The sun is low and it's getting cold, but soon I can hear my human moving again, stumbling, barely on his feet, but still somehow walking. I go where I can see him, I know he will not see me because this time of day he never turns around, too tired. I follow still, watch him find one of his red doors, he pulls first, it doesn't move, so he pushes inward. It swings open, he goes inside, moves around, I hear a grinding sound, then minutes later metal scraping metal, after that he falls. No, this won't do, there are hungry ones inside, you have to get back up. But he doesn't move and I realize he either won't or can't, so I go in. The moaning things are finally reacting, must have smelled him, but they're so miserable that they stumble with every step. Good, I haven't run out of time.

Have to kill them, do it quick, they hurt enough already. Still have to kill them or they will eat him, can't have that. One, two, buckle my shoe— _What shoe?_ —I don't know, just go with it. Three more and they're all dead, can't shut the door because if I do I'll be trapped inside. So I curl up outside, just out of sight if he does wake up, don't want to die, not by noise, that would just be embarrassing. My furry one wanders around, digging, scratching through things, then finally comes and snuggles up beside, me. Good, all accounted for, time to sleep, sleep so we can do it all again tomorrow…

Wake up, stretch, hear my human moving around—he slept longer than he usually does last night—look into the room and I don't see him. Must have found the ones I killed, should have hidden the bodies. Oh well, time to hide, don't want to die. Should find the food again, he should be alright for now, he's always most alert in the early time.

 _Again with the food, do you ever stop?_

Yes, when I'm not hungry. Will need less today, but my furry one will need just as much as yesterday. It's been too long since either of us ate properly, but I'll be fine. I'm still strong and I'm the fastest moving thing around. As long as that is true everything is fine.

I stay close long enough to make sure my human is safe on his way, then I lead my furry one back to the food. More meat packages, so strange there are so many left. I grab one, rip it open, drop it to the floor, find another, smaller one, feed myself. Wish I could carry some with me, but I have no bag, so I leave the food behind and go after my human again. I find him, he seems bored, not paying attention. Well I can pay attention for both of us, just have to stay out of sight or he will kill me. I don't blame him, he doesn't know me, he doesn't know that I won't kill him, because others that scream and jump are angry and have attacked him already.

I hear my furry one snuffling around, then he runs across the street to check out trash and my human jerks his head up to look around. He looks worried, he doesn't know what's happened. Well it can't be helped, I don't want to die. You will see me eventually, just not yet.

My furry one drops a can at my feet and whines and I shake my head, you just ate you silly one. There will be more food later. My human is worried, keeps looking around, but I can't get upset at my furry one because he needs to learn the smells. I feel bad for scaring my human, but I don't know what I should do about it. If he kills me then something angry might kill him. Don't want that, it won't do, not at all. Come on, keep walking, you can make it. Just find the next red door.

He moves off to the side of the street beside the buildings and I relax a little, good, the angry ones with long tongues will have a harder time with grabbing him and so will the ones like me. Well, like me is not quite right, they look more like humans and less like animals. I look more like an animal and less like a human, is that good or bad? I don't know, maybe both.

 _Don't think about that right now, you have things to do._

Keep my eyes on him, follow, not too close or he will see. It's getting warm and his steps get heavy, he's tired, must not have slept so well as I thought last night. Just one more step, just keep going, I won't let the hungry, angry ones get you.

He turns down another street—no not that way, the things in the street make noise—and heads toward where the street curves toward the sky. What does he know? Maybe there is something that way that will help him. I hope so, these dead machines are sometimes angry when you touch them. I hope we don't have to stay on this street for long, he's stumbling again and I worry that he might fall. Oh, why are you so tired?

He cuts through a building to keep from touching one of the dead machines then keeps going. There are moaning ones that try for him, but he kills them, quick and quiet and I start to think that maybe, just maybe, nothing will go wrong. He still stumbles but manages to stay on his feet and I think maybe he'll make it to the end without touching anything, but then I watch him trip, I don't know what it is, and he touches a dead machine.

There's a wicked screech and I slap my hands over my ears, please, oh please, stop the wretched sound. But I know that he doesn't have a way to turn it off, and I just don't know how, so I just follow and squash the things in my path as he begins to run. Oh just lay down and die, why do you stupid moaning things always go toward the dead machines when they make noise? Actually, if they make noise when someone touches them, are they really dead?

 _Ugh, don't try to think about it, you'll just make your head hurt._

Trust, me, I am not thinking about it, my human needs me too much right now.

 _Just exactly when did he become yours?_

Shut up, you! Don't ask stupid questions at a time like this, time enough later if we make it past the angry ones. Well, I will, because I can run away, but my human is too tired and he can't climb the walls like I do. So I'll stay, because somehow I feel like he has to live, although I don't know why.

 _Stop it! Just get through this mess you're in._

Don't worry, I've got it, just be quiet. He's alright for now, but I move closer because I can hear something large moving about somewhere close, and if it's large it's most likely angry. Don't find the noise, don't come here, I don't want to see your face right now, just stay where you belong. Not that you belong anywhere in particular, but you definitely do not belong right here so just go away.

The building explodes at that instant and I look up to see one of the two largest of the angry ones, the one with one giant arm, the only one I'm actually afraid of. I've been grabbed by one of these before, it took me a month to heal. My human backs up, pointing his weapon at the angry one, the noise of it filling my ears and making my head ring with it, and I scramble towards him. I'm scared, there are too many small moaning ones in my way, I'm too far away for a jump and I don't want to die, but I don't want my human to die either. His weapon stops making sound and he backs up faster, then the giant angry one reaches out and grabs him in its massive fist. It slams him into the street once, he cries out, then the giant one roars and throws him.

He lands on top of one of the dead machines and doesn't move, but I don't have time to worry about it, there's no more sound from my human's weapon and this angry one must die. I snarl and leap off the wall beside me— _Die!_ —with claws extended. Kill the eyes, it can't grab what it can't see. Lots of blood, one eye gone, then there's two, just stop flailing you stupid angry thing, it will all be over soon if you just stop moving. Leap away, its hand hits its face, trying to grab what's no longer there— _too close_ —then its fist hits the ground and sends dead machines flying in new directions.

It blindly grabs something, and starts beating it into the ground in fury, and the dreadful screeching noise the dead machine was making finally stops. Well, at least you were useful for something with all your thrashing. Leap in again, shred its face some more, neck in tatters, good now leap away, then my furry one runs in and grabs a leg. It stumbles, then falls over and finally I am able to finish it off.

I'm afraid, did I take too long? Where is he, where's my human? Ok, I can smell him, climb—oh, there he is, but why is he not moving? Move closer, close enough to touch, but he still doesn't move, so I push at him. He groans but does nothing more, and I wonder, is he hurt too much to move right now? I will stay here and wait, at least there's no more sound and I won't have to worry quite so much. Just kill the small ones if they get too curious, it will be alright. And wait, wait as long as it takes, wait all night if it comes to that, I don't mind. He's alive and that's enough.

I curl up on top of the machine and my furry one comes to see if I'm alright, then jumps up and lays down beside me. Yes, I think a nap will do, but no sleep, only snooze, sleep too tight and someone might just die.

I sleep off and on for a long time, long enough for the sun to get too low to shine directly on us and it starts to get cold. I'm worried, please wake up, I have no way to carry you so please wake up. He stirs slightly, then I see his eyes open briefly before he closes them again. No, you can't stay here, it's getting dark. I prod him, but after several times he still doesn't move, then my furry one takes interest. Sniffs his face, licks him, he groans and pushes the nose away.

My furry one licks his face again and he starts to move more, then he gasps and lies still. I can't help the worried sounds that are escaping me and I prod him again—oh please move—and he blinks his eyes before shaking his head, then he turns slightly in my direction and jolts. He makes a noise, sharp and high, hurt, he must be, why else would he make a sound like that? Still can't stay here, something will eat you if you do. He lies there panting for a while with his eyes closed, then he finally opens his eyes again and stares at me. He's scared and I look down, didn't want to scare you, couldn't let you die, what do I do now?

I sit like that for a few minutes, watching him but trying not to be too obvious, just waiting, waiting— _Wait for you forever, ha ha_ —Quiet! It's not funny, he almost died, don't want that, never, never. I look at him again, trying to be reassuring, but then I hear a sound. I'm not the only one who heard, my furry one stands straight up and looks away down the street and soon enough the sound comes again. Metal on metal, do you giant angry ones never sleep? Just go away, we don't want you here.

I start prodding him again, I know it hurts him to move but if he stays here the angry one will crush him and that will hurt him more, he will die and it will hurt. He finally rolls off the dead machine to land with a grunt and a heavy thud on the ground beside my furry one. Ouch, that sounded painful, can't stop now though, keep going, don't look back, just go. I move beside him, try to make sure he is alright, and he swings his weapon, the one that looks like a single claw.

"Get the fuck away from me!" his voice is harsh and dry, like he hasn't used it in a long, long time. Or maybe it's because of the sounds he makes at night when he should be sleeping.

Fuck? What is this 'fuck' you speak of? I don't know this word, but it sounds serious. I do know away, and maybe 'get' is the same as 'go' for him. He wants me to leave him, I think, but I can't do that. If I do then the large angry one that I can't see might find him, and if it catches him he will die. He climbs to his feet and my furry one sticks close to him. This is good, maybe he won't fall, and I won't upset him by getting too close or maybe touching. He doesn't want touch and I can't blame him, those like me keep trying to eat him, even if he is not food, and he doesn't know that I won't hurt him yet.

I follow, keep a safe distance, close enough to protect but far enough not to touch. I mostly just ignore when he tries to chase me, and eventually he gives up, he knows I'm here to stay. I wish he would—could?—go faster, the giant angry one is tearing up the street. Then one of the dead machines flies in our direction and I can't help squeaking and I hope they will move a tiny bit faster. It's a mistake, my human tries but he is more tired than I thought. He falls again and he stops moving, just lying there gasping like he's run for miles. I move to him again, try to get him up, try to get him moving again, but he swings his weapon at me and then I see. He's lying half trapped under the bag he carries, and no matter what he does it barely moves.

I look up to see the angry one is closer, and I know what I have to do, my human cannot survive another giant, angry thing, not like this. My furry one growls as I crouch low to the ground and hiss a warning, go away, stupid, giant brute. The angry thing keeps coming and I leap at it with a scream, it should know better, know better than to come after us. I land in its face and start to claw, but I have to jump away because it reaches for me and if it catches me I will die. It keeps trying, punching the ground and chasing me, then I hear loud, sharp noises and the angry one is suddenly bleeding more from small round holes. It starts toward the sound but I don't let it go far and it chases me again.

I hear my furry one making sounds—barking—yes, that was it, he barks, and the angry one chases after him next. We keep it changing directions back and forth for a while, it's completely confused, and throws a machine at my head. The machine bounces off from others and keeps going, there's a squish and I see a splatter of blood and bone where there used to be hungry ones. The angry one roars and I leap at its face again, destroy its eyes, same as before, it can't hit what it can't see, rip open the throat at the last moment then leap away. Same as before, my furry one runs in, grabs its leg and starts to pull. It falls spraying blood from its neck, then I jump in and slash it one more time and it dies.

Everything is almost completely quiet now, I hear moaning of the hungry ones but not much else, then I hear feet and look to see my human up and walking. That's good, he's safe. I run around through the street, kill off everything that even looks in his direction, then come back when there's nothing left. I find him, he's trying to move the bag, still lying where he must have left it. He pulls at it, almost falls—too heavy?—and I go to him, sit with the bag between us, watching. I want to say something, ask him what to do, but I have no words, only sound. He looks up, sees me, scrambles backward. It surprises me, didn't expect him to move that fast, I jump and back away— _sorry, sorry, didn't mean to scare_ —what are you doing? He suddenly points his weapon, the smaller one that kills with sound. Shit! Yes, shit is the word for this, the only one I know to place this moment. I stare for just a moment but I know that he will make the weapon kill me if I stay and so I run.

My furry one notices that I've gone and follows a few minutes later, why? You should stay with him! But I suppose you're used to me aren't you? Alright, stay with me, we'll follow him like always, make sure he is safe. It's getting dark, soon he won't be able to see like me. Then I will stay close where I can watch him, where I can keep the others from catching him and eating him. I'm hopeful though, he didn't kill me and he could have. Maybe he won't always be afraid of me.

I follow out of sight, I can hear him moving the bag, but then I hear him drop it, take some things, most of them sound the same but one rattles and jingles, different from the rest. It doesn't sound like food or weapons, so I don't know why it's important. Maybe it's valuable in some other way? I wish I knew and could understand. I follow again when keeps going and find he's left the bag. Most of his round things are still in it, were they too heavy? I pick one up and look at it, but the markings don't make sense to me so I put it back and follow him again. Can't let him go alone, too dark, too quiet, the moaning ones can't see, but there are other ones who have no trouble in the dark, like me. Most of them are angry, and they're all hungry and would try to eat him, don't want that, that's not nice. He isn't food, food smells like meat, my human just smells like metal, himself, and smoke. And now blood, but normal blood, not sick blood like the angry ones and hungry ones, so it must be his.

He's a ways ahead of me, so I run to catch up, then just follow. It's dark now, so he can't see me and won't shoot me, but I soon realize that he probably wouldn't shoot me anyway, maybe wouldn't even see me because he's so tired. We're almost to the top of the hill in the road when I hear it, an odd sound. It's one of the crying ones, and I don't know where she is. The crying ones are only angry when another bothers them, but if he gets too near her she will kill him. I think the crying ones must be almost human still because when they do kill humans they cry louder than ever for hours after. But she will still kill him…

He hasn't heard her yet, and I start to worry before he suddenly stops before taking a few more steps then stopping again. The crying one makes a louder than usual sob and he takes a step. She notices and starts growling, I think she doesn't see him yet because she doesn't move, only growls. It's nothing but a warning right now, but he stays still and waits until she starts her crying again. He takes another step and she growls, a clear order to go away, and I worry, because there is only one way he can go, he has to keep going forward because there's nothing back the way we came that will help him. It takes her longer than before to stop growling and start crying again, but she eventually does and I can see he feels better. He manages three steps before she notices, but this time she sees him. I think she is curious, her growls aren't angry now, just confused, and she starts toward him. If she keeps going though she will know that he's not sick and that might make her angry. No, come this way.

I call her, softly, gentle, and she stops, then turns toward me. She's a little annoyed, but still mostly curious, so I keep calling her, and soon she forgets my human is there. She comes to me, sniffs and touches, makes a sad little noise in the back of her throat, then hums a little before sitting down beside my wall and quietly starting to cry again. I will remember her smell if I ever see her again, though I don't think I ever will. I stay there a while, making sure she's calm before I quietly move away, she sniffles and watches me go, but she does nothing else. I think she's sad and will miss the company, but I can't stay, I have someone else who needs me. I start down the other side of the hill and see my human, at the bottom walking forward and I run to catch up, then from my side of the street I see one of my human's red doors and I can't help making a happy sound.

He soon finds it and opens the door, then he shuts it with a bang when he is inside. I can hear him putting things against it to keep the things like me out of the room with him. I can smell that there are hungry moaning ones inside with him, but he's moving enough that I think he will find them before they can attack him. I hear him walk through the building, and I hear the sounds of the moaning ones die. Then I hear a new sound, it's a grinding sound like I heard last night, I don't know what it is but it's something grinding on metal, then he sets something down. Soon I start to smell… something. It doesn't smell like meat, but it does smell good, and I suddenly feel hungry. He must have opened one of the round things, though I'm not sure why now it's suddenly making a smell. I don't remember this ever happening before.

I decide to look around, maybe I will be lucky and find my own food. I find a lot of the round things, and a cold box inside a building, but this cold box is empty and smells stale. Everything is either smashed or rotten or has been taken, and I don't find anything that I can eat. My furry one whines at me, and I pet him, then move on to the next building. We go through several more buildings but still find nothing to eat and I finally go back to the red door and lie down.

He's quiet, I think he's sleeping, so I start to doze. He doesn't sleep for long, I can tell by the sounds I hear inside. He starts walking, back and forth, from the door to the back wall and back again, then finally I guess he gets tired and sits down again. I hear clicking, a lot of clicking, other sounds, don't know what he's doing but it certainly isn't sleeping. Why? You'll be tired again tomorrow. Still more clicking, then a few loud clicks and the sounds go quiet again. He stays quiet for a while more, then I start hearing him move. No steps, just moving. Is he sleeping? I can't tell. There's a thump, a few other sounds, then I hear his boots dragging across the floor, I don't know what's going on. Everything is quiet for a while again then I hear him panting, a loud sniffle, more panting. I wish I knew what to do, I wish there was even something I could do…

I think it bothers my furry one too, he starts whining and scratches at the door. Just lie down and sleep, he won't let us in. Curl up tighter, go back to sleep, sleep for a few hours, wake up again, listen to my human make sounds. Something is wrong, but I don't know what. He sounds like the crying ones almost except no sobbing. I sigh, stretch, curl back up, start to purr, end up falling asleep against the door.

I wake up when it's barely light out to sounds of movement inside the room and finally I'm just too curious. I have to see what's going on inside. I climb on the door and hang onto the window frame, at first I can't see my human, but then he moves where I can see him. He is wearing just his pants and a chain with two pieces of metal around his neck. He keeps doing whatever it is he's doing, I see him pick up one of the round things and a strange tool, then I hear a grinding sound and one of the ends comes off the round thing. So that's how those open. He turns it upside down over another thing— _Bowl?_ —yes, that, the food falls, then he puts it on a flat thing with a tail that attaches it to the wall. Oh! I wonder…

I run off, he won't be leaving the room for a long while, long enough for me to go back and pull one of the round things out of his bag. I run back down the street the way we came and find his bag, look through it, find a round thing, don't know what's in it but it must be good, I don't know why else it would be in here. Pick it up in my mouth and carry it back, jump up on the door and drop the round thing through the window. My human jolts and spins to look, sees me hanging from the window and points his weapon before looking down and seeing the round thing. He still keeps his weapon pointed at me, but he must know I can't get in, or maybe he doesn't want to make the sound. Still, he moves over toward the door, rolls the round thing toward him with his foot, then picks it up and stares, first at it and then at me. He stands there for a long time looking at me— _I wonder what he's thinking_ —he puts his weapon down then turns the round thing in his hands. He watches me, but now I'm focusing on the round thing—please open it—he moves it around, and I realize he's doing what I did the first time I found one. He wants to know if I know what it is.

I feel a jolt and look to see my furry one has jumped up beside me and is putting his nose through the window bars, just as my feet start to slip. There's a squealing sound as I try to hang on and my claws slide, and I finally just let go and drop off. I wonder, should I bring another? I decide I will, and I go back for more. I can still only carry one of the round things, but I still bring it and drop it through the window. I don't know what any of it is, but I know there has to be something to eat in them. I bring three more back, then when I come back with the fourth one I find the door open and I can smell something. I don't go in, don't want to die, I can see my human still has his weapon pointed toward the door, so I just put the round thing down on the floor and push it toward him. It rolls across the floor and stops when it hits his boot.

He turns and looks at me, he looks so confused, maybe he's never seen a thing like me before? I expect him to point his weapon again but he doesn't, then finally he just shakes his head and picks up the last round thing I brought back.

"Want this?"

His voice is still rough, but not like it was yesterday when he yelled at me. I'm not sure what he said but it sounded like he expects an answer. I just tilt my head a little but my furry one seems to know the words. He goes and sniffs the round thing, then he licks my human's hand and whines.

"Ok, but I'm no cook, so you two asked for this."

I still don't know what it means, but he picks up the tool again and puts it against the end of the round thing. That I know, he's going to open it. I turn around and go back again, This time I take hold of the bag— _it's heavier than I thought_ —and start to drag it. It makes a bit of noise and I have to kill the moaning ones that come to see what's going on, but eventually I get it up over the hill and then it gets easier, just a few more—blocks?—until I'm at the door. I start to pull it inside but it gets stuck, then after a few more tugs it comes loose and I fall over, hope he didn't see that as I get back up. Too late, he saw it, but I don't mind so much, because when I look at him he's smiling.

"Shit, you're like what would happen if some weirdo had babies—kittens—kit-babies? With a cat."

He talks and I tilt my head—no idea what you're saying—the only word I know is 'shit.'

"Sh… Sh-i… Sh-i-it..?"

It's the only real word I've said in… well, ever, I think, I don't know, but he puts the round thing down and laughs.

"Yeah, shit," he grins.

Must mean something to him. I don't know what it means right now, I guess it means a lot of different things. I think it's when something goes wrong, but I guess it means something funny now? But I don't have any other words so I just watch as he picks up one of the round things I brought here and puts it in his bag.

"I can't carry this," he looks at me hard.

"Errk?"

"Nope," he says.

I don't know that word either. What is 'nope?' Oh well, I don't worry about it. He isn't pointing his weapon at me anymore so I don't care. I move a little closer but I see his hand move a little closer to his weapon—no, don't want to hurt or scare—so I stop.

"Guess you don't know too many words huh?"

I just tilt my head.

"Didn't think so. Alright, here you go. I suppose if you and your giant dog are going to follow me around I may as well feed you."

Dog? What is—Oh. My furry one, he is called a dog. I remember now, a little bit. Dog. Yes, that makes sense. I will remember that for later. I look and see he's placed two bowls on the floor, so I choose one and pick it up while he watches. I don't know what this stuff is, but it tastes good and there's enough that I won't be hungry for a while. He puts his shirt and other shirt back on while he waits for us to finish, then when both bowls are empty he picks them up and cleans them before putting them in his pockets, then he picks up the flat thing with the tail and puts it in another one. When he goes out the door I stay, I don't know if he wants me following too close or not.

"Well, come on!"

I don't know what he said, but my—Dog, he's called a dog—gets excited and follows, so I go with him too.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3 is finally here, mostly this one is a character building chapter, plus a little bit of set-up to lead into the next one. I won't be repeating text often like I've done in these first three, these instances were purely for character introduction. Obligatory disclaimer: I do not own L4D 1 &2, only my original characters.**

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 _Jason Mitchell's PoV_

I slept about as well as usual last night, and finally at about 0300 I couldn't even try anymore. I could hear infected moving around outside moaning and shambling about but I ignored them. No use trying to kill things that couldn't reach me and end up wasting bullets if they got out of sight. Besides, shooting a gun in here wasn't the brightest idea I've ever had and I was a little surprised my ears weren't still ringing after last night.

I should have been saving my energy for the rest of the day but I still ran through my morning workout. You get used to a routine and it's just easier to keep it going I guess, probably be doing that until the day I die. With that done I went and found a towel that was almost clean and dried myself off. I really wished I could take a shower and a shave, I was filthy, I could smell myself every time I made a move and my face itched like crazy. I had to get a razor and find someplace that had running water. There were a few other things I badly needed too, I still hadn't found batteries for my flashlight and after yesterday I desperately needed to replace my rifle.

I found a notepad and a pen in one of the drawers and started jotting down the things I would need to find, then once that was done I folded the paper and stuck it in one of my pockets. If the world was still normal and hadn't gone to shit I'd probably have more than a few cashiers wondering what the hell I was doing with a list like this. It definitely wasn't your average idiot's shopping list for sure. I would have liked to wash my clothes too, but that was another thing that had to wait until some other time. I wasn't about to be waiting around buck ass naked in a Laundromat while I waited for my clothes at the best of times, and this wasn't the best of times. I'd probably die before I even got my clothes into a washer. Although I didn't know what use clean clothes would be anyway if I couldn't shower.

I picked up one of the cans I'd managed to fit into my pockets last night and turned it in my hands, then set it down and picked up another. Nothing I had right now was a particularly good breakfast, but I decided that pea soup was less ideal than usual. That left three others, a can of diced tomatoes, a can of spinach, and a can of… What was that anyway? The label was missing and there was nothing to indicate what it might be. I decided to take a chance and hope it wouldn't be a disaster. I dug through one of the drawers under the counter and found a can opener and went to work.

A sweet smell escaped when the first bit of juice started to seep through the hole I made in the lid and I sped up. I didn't know what it was, but the smell told me that it had to be fruit of some kind. I pulled the lid off. Peaches. Sliced peaches. At that point I was ready to stay in the safehouse for a day or two because I didn't have anything to put them in and there was a refrigerator in here. I would just find a store or something and shave there, if I could find razors. Considering that this section of the city seemed to have not been completely cleared by scavengers though I should be alright. I put some of the peaches in a bowl then routed through the cupboards until I found some oatmeal. I added a bit of oatmeal then set up the burner and put it on to heat.

I just moved the bowl off the burner when there was a loud bang and I turned around to see the infected from yesterday looking in the window. I grabbed my sidearm and aimed it at the creature then looked down at the floor and saw a can lying there rolling. Apparently the infected had carted a can of something from somewhere and decided to drop it through the window on the safehouse door. I kept my weapon trained on it as I put my foot on the can and rolled it to where I could pick it up. When I did that I noticed that the infected watched the can. I put my weapon down on the table and turned the can to see what was in it, then I looked back at the infected to see if it—well I should call her she I suppose, was still watching. She was watching alright, she was focusing on the can and turning her whole head to watch every direction I moved it in.

The door rattled as the dog that followed her around jumped up and placed his paws on the window frame beside her and poked his nose in through the bars. There was a squeal of claws on metal and the infected let go of the door, landing with a thump on the ground outside. The dog whined a little, drooled over the window frame, then got down himself. There was a sound of scampering feet for a few minutes, then I didn't hear anything more for a while.

The infected dragged back three more cans and dropped them through the window and I finally got tired of the noise. I opened the door and waited for her to get back and sure enough about five minutes later she came back and put a can on the floor then rolled it toward me. I didn't expect that, though I probably shouldn't have been surprised by anything at that point, but I picked it up anyway. She had somehow managed to find a can of chunk beef. I couldn't figure out how the hell she managed to carry the thing, I doubted she'd had it in her hands, but at the same time she wasn't wearing more than a pair of dirty shorts and a tattered tank top. So how did she carry it? She was watching the can again, every time I moved it her eyes followed.

"Want this?" I asked her and held it up.

She looked completely confused. Her weird little ears twitched and pointed forward slightly, probably as much as they could, and she tilted her head to the side staring hard. The dog wasn't confused in the slightest, he came right over and licked my hand whining the whole time and drooling. I petted him and quickly discovered how starved the poor thing was.

"Ok, but I'm no cook, so you two asked for this," I told them.

The infected tilted her head the other direction in response while I got the can opener again. I heard movement and then turned to see her gone. Well she wouldn't be gone for long, she proved that yesterday. Damned if I knew why though, most infected are mindless eating machines. I hunted around and finally found two more bowls to put the meat into then I set one of the bowls on the burner. Maybe if I kept her and the dog fed she wouldn't attack me. I really would rather have not had her following me around, but after yesterday I also knew that I couldn't keep going on my own the way I was if I wanted to make it to the next evac center. I still wasn't completely sure I wanted to, but what I wanted now didn't matter. I made a promise and I wasn't about to break it, even if the guy I made that promise to was dead.

Sometime later I heard a scraping sound and I turn toward the door to see the infected had returned. She had one of the straps to my bag in her mouth and was determinedly trying to drag it into the safehouse. I could hear her growling with the effort and then she gave one giant tug, the bag bounced over the edge of the floor and she fell flat on her rear. She looked so embarrassed that I almost laughed, but I didn't know how she would react to that or even if she would react to it. She looked up at me and dropped the strap, then sat there staring at me.

"Shit, you're like what would happen if some weirdo had babies—kittens—kit-babies? With a cat."

Her face contorted and she worked her mouth, then she scrunched up her nose and said, "Sh… Sh-i… Sh-i-it..?"

That did it, there I was in the middle of a zombie apocalypse and I was teaching one of the damn things to talk, it was absurd. I was pretty sure I was officially a goner at that point, but all I could do was laugh. She just stared at me, head tilting from side to side as if she was trying to understand and it only made me laugh harder before I finally managed to stop.

"Yeah, shit," I told her.

More head tilting, but I just shook my head and put the scattered cans of food back in my bag. She watched and it occurred to me that for some reason everything I did interested the little monster greatly.

"I can't carry this," I told her.

"Errk?" More head tilting.

"Nope," I said. She looked confused but apparently gave up on figuring out what I was saying. She started in my direction and of course months of conditioning made me reach for my gun. She was still watching, she made another funny noise and froze. I felt a little bad for scaring her, but better to have her scared than for me to end up being her next meal.

"Guess you don't know too many words huh?" I asked.

I pulled the first bowl off the burner and set it aside to cool while I warmed up the other a tiny bit. The dog probably wouldn't care, in reality she might not either, but I figured I might as well warm it up. She tilted her head and I nodded.

"Didn't think so." I took the second bowl off the burner then put them both down on the floor. "Alright, here you go," I said, "I suppose if you and your giant dog are going to follow me around I may as well feed you."

I was surprised yet again when the infected actually picked the bowl up and tilted it pull the meat out over the edge with her tongue. She also used one single claw to stab stubborn bits and put them in her mouth. I supposed if she hadn't been so freakish looking she might have been cute in a puppy or kitten sort of way.

When I first saw her I thought the girl's skin had turned grey, but now I finally had time to get a decent look at her I discovered that wasn't the case. It wasn't her skin, she had a layer of short fine hair all over that was thick enough to be fur and it was giving her a grey tinge. The hair on top of her head looked like it used to be red at some point but now it was grey too and it wasn't long anymore if it had been to begin with. It was shorter in back than it was in front, with a fluffy bunch of hair that drooped over her eyes and which she was constantly tossing out of her face. She had pale blue eyes with slit pupils like a cat's, and then when she finished eating and started inspecting the safehouse I had to look twice. She had a thin tail poking out the bottom of her shorts that would have hung to about mid calf if she'd stood up. Not that I expected her to do that, her legs were shaped oddly enough that it probably would have been difficult, and her feet were shaped like the back paws on a dog or cat. More like a cat I supposed when I looked closer and saw that the claws were clearly retractable.

I shook my head. The universe had sure played a shit show of a joke on me this time, no doubt about that. What do you do with a human who's no longer a human, but a cat that isn't a cat?

I looked at the dog and wondered again why it was following the infected around, by all rights they should have at least fought. Normally a dog will sense when something is wrong and they won't go near something like this. And yet, this one stuck to the infected like glue. I ruffled his mane and he shook, creating a faint jingling sound. So he did have a collar. I dug through the tangled fur and finally found the tags. There was a rabies tag from a vet's office I wasn't familiar with, a tag signifying he had a microchip, and two others. One was a heart shaped tag with the dog's name, Atlas, and the other one had a man's name and an address on it. A Maine address no less. I wondered how the hell he got down here. There was no answer that I could find, unless the guy who owned the dog had been down here on vacation or something when the virus hit. If that was the case then Atlas' owner was probably dead.

I sighed and stretched, then I put my undershirt and the top of my uniform back on. Man I needed to wash this stuff, everything was stained and re-stained with dried blood and other less pleasant things, and it smelled awful. It certainly wasn't a surprise that the infected was able to follow me, all she had to do was breathe a little deeper than normal. When I thought about that though I supposed I was lucky it was just this little freak and not something else that decided to trail me. At least this one apparently wasn't interested in having me for her next meal.

I thought about it for a minute or two then I finally decided to put the burner and two or three cans of food in my pockets. I planned to come back to this safehouse and stay at least one more night, but that didn't always mean anything. If there were too many special infected around like chargers or tanks then I might have to hide in a different one until the nuisance got bored and left me alone but no matter what I would still need to eat. So would the infected and the dog. I picked up the empty bowls and rinsed them out in the tiny sink, then put them in my pockets as well.

I headed out the door but neither the infected nor the dog followed just then. Maybe I chased her a few too many times and she was afraid of me now. I didn't think that was exactly a bad thing, but I knew she would follow regardless and I would feel better if I could see her.

"Well, come on!" I hollered, and was met with what normally was probably 200 pounds of dog blowing past me at full speed. He nearly dropped me on my ass. The infected was a little less sure and she didn't come near me, just followed at what she thought was a safe distance.

The first thing I needed to do was replace my rifle before I did anything else since I hadn't been able to find it yesterday, so I started looking around for a phone book. Avoiding residential areas meant I wouldn't find a house with weapons inside, so hopefully there would be a gun store or something close by. Even your average department store should have a somewhat decent supply of firearms and ammunition, but a dedicated gun shop was a bit better. It would have hunting rifles, tactical arms, and sometimes you could get novelty weapons as well. Not that I wanted a novelty weapon, but it was good to know where to get them.

I walked for several hours before finally finding a gas station convenience store but it was better than nothing. I rummaged around behind the counter for several minutes before finally finding a phone book. The nearest gun shop was about five blocks away and I couldn't even be sure that it was still there but I would have to try. The next nearest one was close to a mile away. I would rather not try to get to it if I didn't have to.

I wrote down the address for the gun shop on the back of my list of things to get, took down addresses for several other places, mostly department stores. I figured that if one was completely cleaned out I could still try others, and there was always the chance that one would have something another didn't.

"Alright you two, time to go," I called them as I walked out of the building, snagging a pack of batteries for my flashlight on the way. It took them a little bit, but soon they were both following me again, Atlas running around and sniffing everything he came to while the infected stayed a little nearer. She didn't seem to want to get more than ten or fifteen feet away, which was odd. As far as I knew there wasn't anything around that she really needed to be afraid of. Then again, there was plenty I needed to be afraid of and maybe that was her problem, though I wasn't sure why. Everything I'd seen from infected up to that point suggested that whatever humanity they had left was so drowned by pain that they weren't capable of anything like conscious thought. Something about this one must be different, either the virus completely burned itself out or her body had finally fought it off after whoever she'd been was gone and she mutated into…whatever she was now. Or maybe she was still sick and fighting it. That possibility was worse, it meant there was still a chance she might lose her shit and attack me. Being eaten alive by something that used to be human was definitely not the way I wanted to die.

Luckily there were not too many infected around right now, and I was more convinced than before that they were dying off. Yesterday must have been purely because of the car alarm. I would have to make sure I didn't go near any cars after that, or at least not touch them if I couldn't avoid going past them.

It didn't take long to get to the gun shop with so few infected around, but the shop wasn't as full as I hoped it would be. Still, there were a few good pieces left. I guess not everybody who came through looking for weapons knew all that much about firearms. There were two or three hunting rifles, some tactical rifles, even an M16. I started to pick it up, but then noticed something else poking out from under a bit of plaster that had fallen in from the ceiling. I tugged it out and found myself holding a PTR 91F. I looked back and forth between it and the M16 trying to decide which one to take. The problem was I had a decent supply of 5.56x45 ammunition but if I picked up the 91 I would have to find some 7.62x51 rounds. On the other hand, the larger round the 91 fired had better stopping power and it would probably take fewer rounds to put down a tank or an angry witch. I picked up the 91 and started searching the shop, there had to be ammunition for it here.

I searched the whole shop but only turned up two boxes of rounds for the 91. I didn't want to leave it though… That was when I noticed that the girl had apparently been watching me and begun rooting through the debris picking up anything that even remotely resembled a box of ammo and stacking them in the middle of the floor. I went and looked through them and found two more boxes of 7.62x51 rounds. Well, if nothing else at least she was helpful.

The next thing I decided to do was replace my sidearm, 9mm rounds are good enough for your average thug but the infected were different. If you didn't hit a vital organ that would see them bleeding out or at least incapacitated in seconds they would just keep on coming until you'd used half a clip on one of them. Not a good thing if you were unlucky enough to be trapped by a horde. A .45 round at least has good stopping power, I've seen the infected fall and be unable to get back up after two or three hits, it didn't even require a headshot. An H&K USP tactical .45acp should do nicely.

That took me probably twenty minutes to find, it was apparently a very popular weapon. I had to admit though, the thing was beautiful, it handled well and sat nicely in the hand. I finally found one, along with a nice cache of ammunition stashed behind the counter which I gathered together and put in my pockets along with two or three extra clips, then I left the shop.

It took the infected girl a few minutes to figure out I'd gone and for a moment I thought she might have gotten bored of following me around, but soon enough she was back along with her giant dog. Still, as much as I might wish she wasn't following me, I was glad to have Atlas there. There's something comforting about a big fluffy dog trailing at your heels everywhere you go, even if everything is different you can at least feel good that some things never change. Also somewhat balances out the discomfort of having a zombie cat girl following you around, makes it somewhat less nerve wracking.

This was shaping up to be a day of nothing but walking and taking out the odd infected here and there, whatever got too close. Half the time I barely had time to see the things before the infected girl had already jumped them, ripped their throats out, and leapt for the next one. I had to think of something to call her too, I couldn't just shout 'Infected' every time I wanted to get her attention, if I did that all the time then any other survivors I might team up with in the future might just shoot her on reflex.

"So what am I going to call you, huh?" I asked her. She perked up and tilted her head, reminding me for all the world of a husky puppy, or maybe a kitten.

"You probably wouldn't care even if I just called you a random ass name like 'bitch' would you?" I teased.

She paid attention, I had to give her that. She seemed to know I was talking to her, responding more now than she did when I called them collectively. I definitely needed a name for her, and I couldn't call her something mean, it wouldn't feel right. Hell, forget not feeling right, it plain wouldn't be right, and there would definitely be no way I could explain shouting 'bitch' at the top of my lungs to get a girl to follow me, regardless of how infected she might be. I tried probably five or six names in the next half hour but nothing seemed to stick and she barely responded to any of them. I started to wonder if maybe the only reason she responded at all was because she was hearing my voice because if she wasn't looking at me when I spoke she didn't always notice I was talking to her.

Eventually we came to the first department store on my list and I decided to take a break from trying to name her. I figured I would have plenty of time for that, it didn't look like she'd be going anywhere anytime soon. We walked into the building and I started going through what wasn't buried under debris from the partly caved in ceiling. There wasn't much to find, everything was either buried under rubble or already picked over by other survivors. I couldn't blame them I supposed, they'd only done what anyone else does in this kind of a situation. You do what you have to just to see another day. There was a soft chirp and I jumped, then looked to see the girl sitting on top of a pile of concrete and plaster holding a package of…something, in her mouth.

"Don't sneak up on me unless you want your brains blown out," I scolded her. She tilted her head and dropped the package which landed with a soggy slap on the floor. "Alright, let's see what you dragged over here," I grumbled.

I bent and picked up the package and couldn't help being surprised. The little monster just brought me a fucking steak.

"Where'd you find this?" I asked her. I hadn't seen a steak in ages but I didn't want to eat anything I might get sick off from and for all I knew I might not be as immune to this plague if I swallowed it. She was watching me intently again so I held up the package and asked, "Where?"

She looked confused for a second or two, then perked up and chirped before bouncing down from the pile of rubble and taking off through the destroyed store. I followed the best I could but it still took me a few minutes to catch up with her. She had found an undamaged freezer and had been pulling packages of meat out of it for herself and Atlas, and then apparently decided to share. The freezer had only lost power recently and most of the food in it was actually still frozen. I decided not to let the one she brought me go to waste and stuck it in my pocket to feed to her later in case we didn't make it back here, then I went to the freezer and took out two more that were still frozen and didn't have bite marks in them.

"Good job," I told her. She tilted her head with her ears pointed forward, and I could have sworn she smiled just a bit before the expression was gone and she was back to rummaging around on, and in, the floor. It was hard to understand how the place kept electricity for so long with as torn up as it was. I spent close to another twenty minutes searching what I could get to of the place but I didn't turn up anything else useful and it was about time we moved on anyway. If I've learned anything it's that the infected are drawn to you if you linger in a place for too long. I called Atlas and he and the girl came running, then we left the store.

I had meat in my pockets so I decided to head back to the safehouse and get them into the fridge. I tried to keep watch of the infected girl, I really did, but it wasn't long before I had walked four or five blocks I couldn't remember walking, the girl had disappeared, and I had no idea where she went. This was it, this was how I was going to die. It scared me half to death when she showed back up, practically out of thin air.

"What the hell!"

She just gave me a confused look.

"Well I think I have a name for you anyway," I sighed.

She started to move closer to me and I pointed my sidearm at her again, making her back off. I didn't really think she'd do anything since she hadn't yet, but I wasn't quite ready to trust her yet either. It didn't help that she came and went like mist in the morning.

"That's what your name is, I'm going to call you Misty," I told her. She started to edge closer again and I lifted my weapon. She backed off. "Why are you so determined to be over here, huh?" I growled at her.

She made a mewling noise and moved away. It almost seemed like she was more bothered by my tone of voice than my sidearm. _So I scared the little monster, sue me_ , I thought. Sure I felt a little mean for doing it, but she showed up randomly, started following me, in fact when I thought about it I didn't even know how long she might have been stalking me, and then she wanted me to let her near me. No way in hell I was going to do that. At least, not until I was completely convinced she wasn't going to lose her shit and eat my face.

This kept on for the rest of the trip, she'd stay away for a half hour or so and then pretty soon I'd notice her inching her way back and chase her. The problem was I was practically asleep on my feet at this point, so I didn't always notice what she was doing until she was almost close enough to touch. There was more to it really, I didn't want her closer than necessary but I also didn't really want to shoot her and I probably would if she scared me bad enough. She was a good sport about it though I suppose. She didn't run off in a huff and she stayed more or less in the fifteen to twenty foot distance range until she thought I wasn't paying attention. It was a huge relief when we got to the safehouse.

"You're just going to have to be patient," I told her as I opened the door. She looked at me then kept on with whatever she was doing. That looked like it was as close to an answer as I was going to get, she apparently didn't have the slightest clue about words and 'where' was only one I knew for sure that she understood. Shit didn't count, I was pretty sure she'd only said that one because she heard me say it.

I put the steaks in the fridge and looked around for a grill, or just anything I could successfully cook them on. I didn't have a lot of luck, and if I wanted to cook them tonight it would be either over a fire or on my burner. I decided I'd leave them in the fridge for the night and maybe eat the pea soup. I opened the can and set it on the burner, then I looked through the rest of the canned food I had in the place to see if there was anything that I could feed Atlas and Misty. There was a can of stew so I figured that should do for now. I pulled the bowls out of my pockets, opened the can and dumped half into each one and set them on the floor. Atlas practically ate the bowl along with the stew and then went for Misty's.

"That one's not for you," I told him and I picked the bowl back up. He sat there whining for the next few minutes until I finally decided to put her in the other room to eat. That didn't happen, I couldn't separate them because Atlas didn't trust me. Well I hadn't given him much reason to when I thought about it, he probably thought I was going to hurt her.

"Misty," I called her. She looked at me curiously but she didn't move from where she was curled up on the floor in a corner.

"Come here, Misty," I called her again. She looked confused until I held up the bowl, then she started inching toward me. I was actually starting to regret chasing her all the time, I guess I did it enough that she didn't trust me not to shoot her if she came to close. She still needed to eat though.

"Come on," I coaxed, "I'm not going to hurt you."

She still didn't move more than a few inches in my direction, then she started backing up. I set the bowl on the counter and sat down on the floor to watch her and Atlas.

"I guess this is all my fault, huh?" I muttered, "First you scare the crap out of me so I chase you with my gun, then every time you get a little bit brave I just chase you some more. Wonder what you'd say about that if you could talk. Probably wouldn't have too nice of an opinion about me, would you? Just trying to be helpful and this jackass points a gun in your face. And now he's talking to himself, looks like we've got a real winner here folks."

I didn't know when she started paying attention, but she was tilting her head back and forth like whatever I was saying was the most important thing she'd ever heard. Well, I supposed it couldn't hurt to try and give her food again. I picked up the bowl off the counter and held it toward her. She tilted her head again then finally came over and took it from my hand before going back to her corner to eat.

"You're kind of a cute little monster I guess," I told her as I picked up my own bowl and started to eat, "Still kind of a freak, but kind of cute too."

I hoped I wasn't going to regret keeping her in the safehouse with me, but there wasn't much else I could do. I didn't want Atlas outside because part of me worried that he would end up as food for some random infected or other, and if he was going to be inside Misty had to be too. This was going to take a lot of getting used to. I was too tired to think about it anymore though, I was practically falling asleep watching her so I finished my dinner then got up and moved to the other room where my makeshift bed was. I was out the minute my head touched the lumpy pillow…


	4. Chapter 4

_Ok, this took far, far longer than I intended, so I made it a tiny bit longer than the previous chapters. I really hope the wait was worth it, hopefully it doesn't make you all wonder if I've lost my mind or something. As always, thank you for reading everyone!_

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I woke with a jolt sometime in the early morning from a nightmare I couldn't remember to the feeling of something warm pressed up against my back. I scrambled to my feet and switched on a light to find Atlas staring at me like he thought I was nuts, so I sat back down beside him and ran a hand through his fur.

"You scared the shit out of me," I told him.

It was only after that I noticed Misty curled into a tiny ball with her head pillowed on the dog's side, rising and falling to the rhythm of his breathing. I jerked my hand back. I didn't want to startle her, I didn't know if doing that would make her bite me or not but I didn't want to find out.

I sighed and got up again to run through my morning routine, then I went back to check on Atlas and Misty. They were still where I left them, Misty using Atlas as a pillow and the dog lying there snoring. Well, it was too dark for me to go anywhere yet so they might as well sleep. I went and started going through my bag, leaving larger cans in and pulling out most of the smaller ones. I had more than just me to feed now so I definitely needed the bag. I gave it an experimental lift and my broken rib protested. Still too heavy to carry for long. I looked back through the door to the other room and shook my head. I either had to carry it or find something to pull it in, I couldn't let them starve. I pulled out the rest of the smaller cans and lifted the bag again. Still heavy, but at least it didn't feel like my ribcage was going to explode this time.

I went to the fridge and pulled out the can of peaches I opened yesterday and started eating while I tried to work out the problem of where to go from here. I needed to change safehouses for one thing. Just then I looked up and noticed both of them were sitting there staring at my food, watching my spoon every time I moved it.

"Are you two telling me you're hungry?" I asked them. Misty stayed put but Atlas moved closer and sniffed at my can. I pulled it away just as he sneezed. "Yeah, thanks for that," I told him sarcastically, "Alright you guys, let me see if I can find something for you to eat."

I thought about it for a minute or two, then I went to the fridge again and pulled out two of the steaks. I gave Misty the one she'd been chewing on and I gave the other to Atlas, then I went back to my peaches.

There wasn't much of anything to do while I waited, so I picked up my new rifle and started to clean it. There was plaster dust all over it, so it definitely needed it. I ran a cloth over the outside first, then broke it down and cleaned the parts. Surprisingly little of the plaster dust had actually made it inside the gun itself and once I had all the oil out it was very easy to clean. Once I had that finished I cleaned my new sidearm and loaded both weapons, but then I didn't have anything else to do. I didn't like not having anything to do, not being busy gave me time to think and I didn't want to think. It didn't look like I had much choice, both Misty and Atlas had gone back to sleep and pretty much all there was to do was wait until it got light outside. I checked my watch and found the time at only 0430. It would be another two hours almost before it was light enough to leave the safehouse. I started to pace, I should be sleeping but I just didn't want to try. There was a slight chirping noise just as I got to the exit for probably the hundredth time and I spun around to see Misty peaking curiously out at me from the doorway to the other room. I barely stopped myself from pointing my sidearm at her.

"Hi," I grunted, and kept walking.

"Errk?" she tilted her head.

"Yeah? What do you think you want?" I asked her.

"Merrp," she responded, tilting her head the other direction.

"I don't speak Zombie," I told her.

She chirped a couple more times, but stayed where she was. I guess she was done trying to get close to me, at least if I was awake. I started thinking about the steak sitting in the fridge and wondering what I was going to do with it. There wasn't even any ice in it at this point, and even though fall was almost over by now I still didn't want to carry it around. It would probably go bad if I did that. I decided I should probably just take it and feed it to Atlas later because I wasn't likely to find a way to cook it safely for myself anytime soon. I shook my head and started to pace again. I walked back and forth between the back wall and the door several more times but eventually I couldn't ignore Misty anymore. She'd been watching the whole time, in fact she was still watching, and it was driving me crazy.

"Would you go back to bed?!" I snapped at her.

"Errk!" she squeaked and disappeared.

 _Smooth_ , I mentally kicked myself. She couldn't have a clue how staring would drive a normal human crazy. I thought back to last night, I knew I would have a long road ahead to get her to stop jumping at the slightest movement from me, and my yelling at her every time she made a move probably wasn't helping. I paced back and forth a few more times then looked toward the other room to see one big blue eye peaking at me from around the doorframe. When she noticed me looking she immediately disappeared again.

"God damn it, Mitch, what do you think you're doing?" I berated myself under my breath as I slumped to the floor, "She's all you've got and you're chasing her away, you dumb fuck…"

I dropped my head into my hands and sat there with my eyes closed for a few minutes before I realized that I could hear what sounded like purring and I looked up to see Misty slowly inching toward me. When I moved though she squeaked and disappeared back into the other room. I ran a hand through my hair and the other one over my face, then I got up and went back into the other room and started rolling up the sleeping bag I used for the past couple of nights. Misty had moved over into a corner and curled up, her head resting on her legs while she watched me. I felt horrible, apparently I managed to scare her so bad that she was now trying to become one with the wall.

"Oh Misty, what am I going to do with you, huh?" I asked, sitting down on the floor against the wall opposite from her.

She made a soft little humming noise and blinked slowly a couple of times before going back to staring. I eventually got up and finished gathering stuff together, then once I had everything packed where I could carry it without too much effort I picked up my bag and called Atlas and Misty. They followed me out the door, Misty staying at some distance after the morning's incident, and I pulled out the map to see where the next safehouse was supposed to be. It was a little over two miles away and it would likely take a good three or four hours minimum to get there what with how torn up the city was. I wondered if the air force had made a bombing run here before I got here, half of the buildings weren't much more than piles of rubble and twisted rebar and what wasn't flattened was still pretty badly damaged.

I decided to hunt up a department store first in the hopes of finding running water and a halfway useable razor. That took me close to two hours. The second department store on my list though turned out to be in pretty good shape, it didn't even look like the infected had spent much time around it. The floor was smooth though a bit dusty, the automatic doors that weren't broken still worked, and though most of the lights were either burned out or broken enough of them were still lit that I could find my way around well enough. First things first, I needed a razor. I finally found the personal care aisle after a few detours and went to work, picking up both a razor and a battery powered trimmer, deciding I might as well get a haircut while I was at it. I found it a little ironic that I kept picking up things that required batteries when I thought about it, but I didn't have time to look for an electrical outlet.

Once I collected everything I figured I would need I went looking for the restroom, only to find that there was no light in the men's half. No way, I decided. I checked the women's room and found the light to still be in working order, so rather than worry about anyone coming in, something I was pretty sure wouldn't happen anyway, I just sucked it up and decided to use it. I was only going to sort of wash up anyway. I finished my shave and was almost finished with my haircut when I heard some odd sounds coming from outside, then the unmistakable sound of Misty hissing. I finished my haircut in record time, scooped everything into my pockets, and readied my rifle before scrambling out the door to see what had her and Atlas so worked up. There was an earsplitting screech and I just had time to lift the barrel of my gun and pull the trigger before whatever it was landed on top of me, limp.

"Fucking hunters," I grumbled, throwing the corpse off.

I rubbed my ears, trying to get them to stop ringing. I really needed to stop shooting guns in cramped spaces, at this rate I was going to go deaf before I ever found my way out of this dump. Eventually my ears stopped ringing and my head stopped pounding, so I wandered around the store a little more before calling Misty and Atlas. Misty was still staying a good distance away from me, so after a bit of thinking I went and scrounged up some snack food. I knew it probably wouldn't be good for her, but I also knew dogs and cats both tended to like the stuff. Plus I didn't think jerky could hurt either of them too much. There was quite a bit of it still in the store, so I gathered up as much as I could fit into my bag, then I snagged an extra one for the road before heading out of the store.

I started for the safehouse again with Atlas and Misty trailing behind. There was barely anything in the streets, no special infected at all and very few commons. That didn't bother me one bit, it let me save on ammo and it let me work out how to solve both the problem of feeding Atlas and Misty, and the problem of how to gain Misty's trust back. The more I thought about it the more I was convinced I should at least try. She didn't have to come with me the way she did. It was pretty cruel of me to keep her around but chase her every time she tried to get close to me. I turned back to look at her and she froze, not moving a muscle the whole time I was facing her, then when I turned back to face forward again I heard her little feet and hands padding across the sidewalk behind me.

"Misty?" I called her.

She stopped moving so I turned around to see her standing there, one hand in the air and her head cocked to the side. I shook the package of jerky I was carrying in my hand and called her again, but Atlas came running over instead, drooling all the way.

"I didn't call you Atlas," I told him. That did nothing and he was still begging. "Alright, you big fluffy mutt," I couldn't be annoyed at him, he was just too damned adorable, "Come here, I'll give you a treat. Just don't bite my fingers."

I opened the package, Atlas watching with his tongue lolling out and trailing drool all over the sidewalk and my boots. He was surprisingly gentle about taking the jerky, I had expected to have to throw it but for all of his knocking things over when he brushed past them he seemed to know exactly where his mouth ended and my fingers started. He didn't even touch me most of the time. I probably fed him half the bag before I rolled it up, then when I did he went back to begging.

"I fed you a bunch," I told him. He just whined. "Misty!" I called. She had been watching me the whole time, so when I shook the bag again she finally inched forward to just barely within arms' reach. "Come on," I coaxed, "I'm not going to hurt you."

It took a bit more coaxing but she eventually did come close enough for me to give her the strip of jerky without Atlas ending up with it. She moved away to eat it, then once she'd finished the piece she came back, though she still stayed at a bit of a distance. I pulled out another strip of jerky and held it out to her, and this time it didn't take as much coaxing to get her to come take it from me. It took the entire rest of the bag but I eventually did manage to get her to come to me and sit there while she ate the last piece. She took off the moment she figured out the bag was empty, then sat on top of a pile of rubble a few feet away. Still, it was more progress than I'd expected after last night and this morning that was for sure.

"Alright you two, let's go," I called them, "Need a safehouse or I'm going to be falling asleep in the road…"

I looked at the map and headed in the general direction of the safehouse, hoping the route would be reasonably level. It wasn't all that late in the day but after having been up since probably 0300 I was starting to feel really tired. I dragged my sleeve across my face and shook my head to try and clear it but that didn't really help. I made it two or three more blocks before I finally had to stop and sit down. There was a whirring noise and I looked up to see Misty standing there watching me. When I didn't do anything she moved closer with a soft chirp.

"No, you stay over there," I told her, putting out my hand to keep her at arm's length. She backed up a few steps but she kept staring at me and making noises. "Just give me a minute," I sighed, placing my hands on my knees to brace myself before finally standing up again and continuing on. I wanted to get to the safehouse as soon as possible, my ribs ached and my head was starting to pound too. I needed to start getting more sleep at night… I pressed a hand to my head and kept going, but before I knew it I'd walked close to a half mile I couldn't remember walking.

I moved over to the sidewalk close to the buildings and leaned against a wall for a few minutes while I tried to stay awake. I started walking again, but I could barely see straight and soon I was down to the basics of putting one foot in front of the other and hoping I wouldn't fall flat on my face. If anyone had ever asked about it later, I wouldn't even have been able to tell them whether it was Atlas or Misty I was leaning against for the last half of the trip, I was that exhausted. By the time we got to the safehouse I could barely see farther than two or three feet ahead and it took me a couple of tries to get the bar in place on the door once the three of us were all inside. Misty disappeared then, I wasn't exactly sure where she went but she came back in only a few minutes so it didn't matter. I didn't even have the energy to roll out my sleeping bag, I just dropped all my gear on the floor and collapsed, using the still rolled up bedding as a pillow.

I woke only a few hours later, feeling extremely cold from sleeping on the floor without any protection to speak of. I started to roll over but found that I seemed to be sandwiched between what I thought was the wall at first and what I knew was Atlas. When I reached out to brace myself against the other thing though I discovered that it wasn't high enough to be the wall and it was soft, if a bit bony. On top of that the surface had about the same texture as velvet. I yelped and scrambled to my feet, flicking on the light to find Misty and Atlas curled up on either side of where I'd just been sleeping. With me gone Misty scooted over against Atlas in her sleep without even so much as fluttering an eyelid.

I took a few deep breaths to calm myself down, then I picked up the sleeping bag and rolled it out, making sure I could sleep with my back against the wall this time and trying not to wake Misty and Atlas. Sure she just scared the living shit out of me, but I decided to let her sleep. Besides, I was a little thankful she decided to sleep where she did, I could just imagine how sore and stiff from the cold I would have been without her there.

I took off my uniform jacket and dropped it over my pack, then I pulled my undershirt off and dropped it there too. Raising my arms over my head hurt like hell though, my shoulders ached horribly and my ribs were so sore and swollen that my range of motion was very limited by now. I probably should have taken a few days to rest after that injury, but I couldn't spend too long in one place. I reminded myself again that I also had two pets to take care of now. Even if Misty was technically not an animal, she behaved like one and seemed determined to stay as near to me as she could get. It wasn't a bad thing I supposed when I thought about it though. She was alert all the time and sometimes I couldn't be, especially since I could barely sleep at night, and it was probably the one thing that had kept me from ending up as zombie food a few times.

I sighed and ruffled Atlas' mane, but somehow I couldn't bring myself to actually put my hands on Misty just yet. I still couldn't forget what her teeth looked like, those things could tear a hole in me big enough to put my arm through. I settled for a quick round of the safehouse, then I went to bed. I closed my eyes, preparing for a round of probably uncomfortable but badly needed sleep, but soon enough I felt something slowly pressing up against my side and I turned on my flashlight to find both Atlas and Misty snuggling up against me. Misty changed her position a couple of times before finally turning in two complete circles and then laying down beside me and pillowing her head on my leg. I started to move, but then I decided to let her stay where she was. She wasn't hurting anything, least of all me, and she and Atlas were keeping me warm at least on one side. I closed my eyes again.

 _"What Mitch? Couldn't have kids so now you're adopting?"_

 _"Fuck off," I grumbled, refusing to open my eyes to look at Baxter._

 _"Aw, come on man, you know I'm just kidding," he chuckled, "Hell if anything you're lucky, a giant ass dog is something I never thought I'd see again. Well, one that isn't all rabid and hungry for flesh that is."_

 _"And Misty?" I asked, finally looking at him from my spot on the floor._

 _"Not saying she isn't about as freaky as a Steven King horror story monster, but she's alright enough I suppose," he grunted, taking a seat against the wall, "Just watch your back, you hear? Heaven knows I can't bail you out of trouble next time shit hits the fan."_

 _"What the hell are you talking about?" I asked him tiredly, closing my eyes again as I rested my head on my arm._

 _"I'm not feeling too good, partner," was his reply, followed by a heavy, racking cough, "I don't think I've got too much more in me."_

 _I turned to look at him only to see him sitting there with his arm held across his mouth and his eyes squeezed shut as tight as they would go. Then as I watched he fell forward slightly, putting both hands on the floor in front of him while blood started to trickle from his mouth._

 _"Oh shit, not again," I whispered before shouting, "Baxter!"_

 _"You're…on your own now…Mitch…" he wheezed, then he reached for me._

 _"No!"_

I bolted upright to find both Atlas and Misty staring at me and I pressed both hands to my head, but no matter what the images wouldn't leave. My new roommates could clearly tell that something was wrong judging by Atlas' sniffing and forcing his nose into my chest and Misty's worried sounding chirps, but all I could do for a few minutes was sit there and try not to bawl. Atlas persisted in shoving his face into my chest and finally I just let him in. He took that as an invitation and before I knew it I had my arms wrapped around a lapful of massive fluffy dog.

"Ok, get off, you're crushing me," I gasped, trying without much success to shove him off. "Atlas, off!" I barked.

He whined but he moved, and I was finally able to breathe somewhat regularly again. With Atlas gone though that left room for Misty to shove her face in close. She had a bit different approach from Atlas. While she didn't try to crawl into my lap she circled me and kept sniffing, first at the back of my neck which was unnerving because I suddenly imagined her teeth grabbing me, then my ear, also unsettling but for a different reason, and then finally I found myself staring straight into her luminescent blue eyes. I choked back a yell and she bounced backwards with a surprised squeak before falling over and rolling back to her hands and feet. She gave me a miffed expression then she curled up at the foot of my sleeping bag to lie there watching me with her head pillowed on her knees.

"What do you want Misty?" I asked her.

She made a little noise but stayed where she was, and I decided not to disturb her. I placed my hands over my face and tried to rub away the stress before lying down and rolling to my side, hoping I could get a little more sleep. That was when I heard a weird purring noise and rolled to my back to find Misty standing beside me and watching me curiously. I jumped and almost punched her before stopping myself, having not expected her to be there. Her response was to chirp softly and move away a few steps, and I sort of felt bad. I didn't really want to keep pushing her away, but I didn't know what else to do, she was just so creepy looking that just having her around was stressful sometimes.

She chirped again and I got the impression she was waiting for me to give her permission to move before she did anything. Then suddenly it occurred to me that maybe all this nonsense was just a simple case of neither one of us really having any idea how to communicate with each other. Maybe what I should be doing was watching her to figure out which movements meant what. I didn't have the energy for that tonight though so I just turned my back to her and called it good. She seemed to take that as an invitation, the purring increased in volume and soon after that she curled up with her back against mine, her motor vibrating me even through the sleeping bag. It was… oddly comforting, in a bizarre sort of way, and eventually I fell asleep listening to the sound.

The next time I woke it was light outside, but despite having rolled my sleeping bag out on bare concrete I was actually feeling somewhat comfortable for once. I was fine with where I was, but I knew that at some point I would have to move. I found that Atlas had forced his way in between me and the wall, which was kind of funny in a way, with that much fur I was surprised he wasn't overheating. Although I did remember it had been pretty cold last night. It was then that I noticed a weight resting on my stomach and I looked down to find Misty's head pillowed there, her eyes still closed while she snoozed.

It startled me and I jolted, raising myself up onto my elbows before I thought about what I was doing, then I stopped and tried to calm down. This was getting ridiculous, Misty hadn't done a single thing to me, but I was still jumping like a kid in a Halloween funhouse every time she came near me, bonus if she actually touched me. I was going to have a heart attack at this rate and it was probably going to be self-inflicted. I sighed and shook my head, then I carefully slid out from under her, trying not to wake her up. Unfortunately without me there the sleeping bag went flat and her head dropped. She shook her self awake looking thoroughly confused before she figured out I'd moved, then she gave an annoyed little huff before laying her head back down on the bag.

"You're going to have to move when I roll that up you know," I told her.

She ignored me at first, but when I pulled a can of beef stew out of my bag and started to open it she and Atlas were suddenly both right there begging. It was then I remembered that I had forgotten to feed them last night. I reached down and petted Atlas, then finished opening the can. That done, I put half the stew in one bowl and the other half in another bowl, then I put one on the floor for Atlas before holding the other out to Misty. She was still pretty timid about taking it from me, but she wasn't as nervous as she was yesterday morning. Now I just had to figure out something to eat for myself. I still had a few smaller cans of food with me, and after a lot of debate I finally settled for a can of green beans. Not something I would have gone out of my way to eat normally, but it was better than some of the other things I'd been able to scrounge up. Plus I was saving the jerky.

I watched Misty and Atlas while I ate my breakfast. Atlas almost swallowed his food bowl and all again, then he went to Misty and began begging for what she was eating. She ignored him for a while, but eventually she put the bowl down and Atlas licked it clean. I couldn't help smiling a little, I probably would have caved in long before that. Puppy eyes are something I've never been able to refuse, and Atlas was just too adorable even when he wasn't making that face, regardless of how big he was.

I picked up the empty dishes and rinsed them out in the sink, then I rounded everything else up and got it all packed. Once I had everything ready to go I put on my undershirt and uniform jacket, then picked up my gear and took the bar off the inside of the door. I opened the door and Atlas barreled through it at about as fast as he could go from a standstill.

"Come on Misty," I called.

She perked up a little, her ears twitching forward as she walked. Well, I think she was walking, it wasn't really a crawl. Her hands and feet were what she was putting on the ground, not her hands and knees, so it had to be walking of some kind. When she was out of the room I let the door swing shut and pulled out my map to look at it before heading off in the direction of the next safehouse. Misty stayed within sight pretty much the whole time and out of habit I watched her. Still, after the last few days somehow it was different. She was weird, she'd probably always be weird, but at least now I didn't find myself reaching for my gun every time she made a sound or moved a little nearer. Five feet was also the closest she'd come so far today except when I fed her, definitely close enough to jump me if she decided to attack but not close enough to bite. I didn't think she'd do anything like that anyway. It was a nice change, not having to watch my back as closely as I had been lately. I started to think that maybe I could make it through this, and hopefully Misty could too.

The next safehouse was about the same distance away as the last one was, a little over two miles. I guess that was a sort of standard distance, maybe they wanted to make sure people would know how long to plan to be outside with the infected. The farther we went though, the more infected we saw and I started to feel worried. It was getting to the point where every time I sheathed my knife I would just have to pull it out again because I'd hear another infected or one would attack me. Usually both. They weren't a horde yet, but there were definitely more of them than I wanted to fight.

I'd just put another infected out of its misery when I heard what sounded like the giggling of an insane child and I immediately raced for the nearest wall. There were still three directions the thing could come at me from but at least behind wasn't an option anymore. If it did it would fall close to twenty stories because that was the lowest window without boards. I heard skittering and I turned just in time to see it hit Misty full in her side and grab on for dear life.

"Shit! Misty, come here!" I shouted, but it apparently didn't matter that she had four legs instead of two.

The jockey grabbed her head and started to pull and in her attempts to shake it off she bounced down an alley and out of sight, Atlas running after them barking. I chased after them, I didn't know what I would do but I had to do something. I skidded to a stop when I rounded the corner. The jockey was dragging Misty straight toward a witch and there was nothing I could do about it. Misty stumbled, the jockey let go, and the witch freaked. It went after Misty, but she was determined to get rid of the jockey. She caught its neck in her jaws and there was a sickening crack as she bit down, the head drooping limp as the body hung from her teeth. That was when the witch plowed into her. She yelped and let go of the body, only just managing to avoid being slashed wide open by the witch's claws as it made a swipe at her and Atlas began trying to drive it away.

I yanked out my sidearm and started shooting, but the thing was still concentrating on Misty and for some reason my bullets did pretty much nothing to it. The witch behaved like it was on some kind of drugs. It spread its arms wide and screamed, and Misty jumped at it, sending the two of them rolling in a heap of tangled limbs and claws. If I tried to shoot the witch now I'd more than likely end up hitting Atlas or Misty. They came apart for a few seconds and I took aim but before I could pull the trigger Atlas grabbed one of the witch's legs and back peddled, yanking it to the ground a few seconds before Misty jumped on it again.

I had other things to worry about though, because just then I felt a stab of pain in the back of my right shoulder. I grabbed my knife in my left hand, reaching over and back to stick it into whatever was biting me, then when it let go I turned around to see a common infected twitch and slide to the ground. The next thing I knew there was a terrible retching sound and the ground where I was standing was suddenly covered in green slime. I scrambled to get out of it, my boots would only last so long in the sizzling goo, but the infected coming after me didn't pay it any attention even though it ate away at anything it touched. I killed off the rest of the commons then looked around for the spitter. I heard it squeak, signaling that it was getting ready to launch another attack, and I looked up to the building I'd been standing beside to find it looking out a window. I quickly dropped the empty clip out of my gun and fed in a new one then started firing. I didn't know how many of my rounds actually hit the spitter, but at least one of them did because its head snapped back, then it toppled out of the building to land in a crumpled heap on the sidewalk.

There was another loud shriek and I looked back just in time to see the witch's flailing arms go limp, then both of them went silent. Nothing happened for a while after that, then finally Misty struggled free of the mess and came toward me, holding her left foot completely off the ground. At first I worried that I'd hit her with one of my shots, but when she got closer I could see that she'd actually been grazed by the witch's claws. There were several cuts all up and down her body, but her leg had gotten the worst of the damage and she didn't seem to want to move it.

"Misty?"

She mewed at me and started to come toward me, but then she stopped, holding her left leg in the air and trembling. I walked over and knelt beside her to check the wounds, quickly discovering that I would have to clean them before I could do anything else.

"Well, here goes nothing," I sighed.

I dropped my gear and started going through it, I was sure that somewhere I had a first aid kit in all this. It was there alright, just buried, it took me several minutes to find it. I set it aside and closed my bag up, then I pulled off my uniform jacket, then my undershirt. I started to reach out to Misty, but apparently my movement startled her and she dodged away from me.

"Come on," I soothed, "You've got to let me clean those."

She stopped moving away, but the minute I touched her I felt her stiffen up. I couldn't really blame her, that witch had really done a number on her. I pressed my shirt to her leg and started to soak up the blood as gently as I could, but she flinched every time the shirt touched the wounds. It wasn't easy to do anything with Atlas in the way either, he could tell Misty was hurt and he kept trying to see what I was doing, forcing me to shove his nose out of my way every so often. I was nearly finished when she apparently couldn't handle it anymore. I was just pressing the cloth to them for the final time when her leg stiffened, she hissed, and the next thing I knew her little foot hit me square in the chest. I didn't fall over, but it kind of hurt and she moved away from me again.

"Sorry Misty," I tried to calm her down, "I know, it hurts, but you have to let me finish."

She wouldn't have it, she kept moving away forcing me to follow. I chased her around my gear four or five times before I finally gave up.

"Alright, you win," I told her finally in exasperation, "When you're ready to sit still we'll have another go at this."

I threw on my uniform jacket and picked up my gear, then started looking for someplace with running water to rinse out my undershirt so it would be clean enough to use on Misty again. I was pretty sure she'd need it later. Eventually we came to another department store, and while it was a bit run down most of it was still standing, including the restrooms. After I rinsed my shirt out in the sink we kept on toward the safehouse. I didn't really blame Misty for running away from me, I knew from experience how much determination it took to sit still while someone messes with cuts like that, but I didn't want those wounds to get infected. She was a complete unknown, maybe she couldn't even get an infection like a normal human or animal could, but I didn't want to take that chance. While I didn't think she could get another virus on top of the one she already had, I didn't know if other infections were a possibility and some of them could even kill her.

I made sure to watch her extra closely for the rest of the trip and Atlas pretty much stuck right by her side the whole time. He didn't run around to check out every mound of trash and he didn't even chase the odd squirrel or random rat that darted across the street in front of us. It was a good thing too, before long Misty was having a hard time staying on her feet, possibly having lost more blood than I at first thought from the slash wounds in her leg. By the time we got to the safehouse Atlas was supporting Misty's weight and after I opened the door and let them in Misty just collapsed in the middle of the floor. I dropped my gear off to the side, dropped the bar into its place across the door, then went through the safehouse to make sure there were no infected inside before I went back and went to work on Misty's leg.

The wounds weren't especially deep, but they had bled a lot and I still wasn't sure if the witch's claws were enough to make her sick. I cleaned them out again, then dug my first aid kit out of my bag and applied disinfectant before wrapping the limb to keep the wounds clean. Misty whimpered a bit through this process, but she was either too tired or just too weak by then to protest any farther. I felt sorry for her, she was feeling miserable and even though my less than expert medical attention would help her in the long run she probably didn't feel like it right then.

There wasn't much more I could do for her at the moment, so I dug through my bag and found a can of pork and beans. I fed Atlas half, but Misty didn't make a move when I tried to show her the bowl, so I just set hers on the counter while I went through my pockets to find something for my own dinner. I finally came up with a can of chili and after warming it up I started eating. Misty stayed right where she was for a long while even after I rolled out my sleeping bag and for a few minutes I started to worry about her. Eventually she got up though and she was a little less wobbly than she'd been when we got to the safehouse. I picked up her bowl off the counter and showed it to her again, and this time she took it from me.

When she finished I rinsed all three bowls out in the sink before setting them on the counter top to dry, then I pulled off my uniform jacket, pants, and boots before crawling into my sleeping bag. Before long Misty had pressed herself up against my side and was quietly yet steadily purring with her head pillowed on my stomach like she'd done the night before. My first instinct was to push her off, but I forced myself to let her be, reminding myself that she wasn't hurting anything and that she was warm.

I was almost asleep when the thought popped into my head that maybe, despite all her problems and the fact she could only say one word that I knew of, just maybe she was still a tiny bit human in there. I raised myself up on one elbow to look at her. She was asleep, and she still was probably the weirdest thing I'd ever seen, but she also looked somewhat peaceful, which was something I hadn't noticed before. Maybe that was just because I wasn't paying attention before, but it might also have been how much I tried to chase her away. Still, for some reason I couldn't understand she forgave me and wouldn't go. I almost reached down and touched her little face, but then I decided against it, I wasn't convinced she wouldn't bite on reflex if I startled her in her sleep. I petted Atlas instead and he huffed, then I closed my eyes.


End file.
